ULTRASOUND IMAGING APPARATUS

摘要

An ultrasound imaging apparatus (10) is disclosed for identifying anatomical objects in a field of view. The apparatus comprises an image interface (18) for receiving 3D medical image data (40) of a patient (12), and a segmentation unit (24) for segmenting anatomical objects of the patient in the 3D medical image data and for providing segmentation data (42) of the anatomical objects. An ultrasound acquisition unit including an ultrasound probe (14) is included for acquiring ultrasound data (46) of the patient. The apparatus further comprises a position determining unit (26) for determining a position of the ultrasound probe, wherein the position determining unit includes a calibration (28) unit for calibrating the position of the ultrasound probe on the basis of anatomical features (48) of the patient. An identification unit (30) is included in the apparatus for identifying the anatomical objects within the field of view of the ultrasound probe on the basis of the segmentation data and the position of the ultrasound probe.